Mathematics for the interested outsider

Movie news

MGM and New Line will co-finance and co-distribute two films, The Hobbit and a sequel to The Hobbit. New Line will distribute in North America and MGM will distribute internationally.

Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh will serve as Executive Producers of two films based on The Hobbit. New Line will manage the production of the films, which will be shot simultaneously.

Peter Jackson and New Line have settled all litigation relating to the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

So great. We’re going to finally have a Hobbit movie. And a seq…what?

Look, I love Tolkien as much as the next guy, and in an intellectual (opp. fantasy fanboy) way. I grew up with it, I’ve dabbled in Quenya and Sindarin, I’ve read the archives of Vinyar Tengwar, and I wasn’t horribly disappointed by the LotR trilogy. But honestly, people, there’s just not that much there in the Hobbit. It won’t really support two movies on its own. So either they’re reeeeeeeeeally stretching the script to squeeze the money out; they’re bringing in a lot of stuff from Unfinished Tales, or maybe even HoME (unlikely given how much of LotR proper was cut); or they’re creating new Hobbit material out of whole cloth.

A friend of mine says that he trusts Jackson’s vision. I trusted Lucas’ vision, and see where that got us. This may be good, but buckle up just in case.

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I’m a total Lord of the Rings geek, myself. I have a map of the middle earth and a painting of Eowen battling the Witch-King framed in my bedroom. And even I can’t work up that much enthusiasm for a Hobbit movie, let alone two.

I, for one, have been anxiously awaiting this news. Jackson did a great job on the Trilogy, and most importantly kept excellent continuity between the movies. This lack is evident in the sequence of Harry Potter movies, where the change of directors has caused a lot of variation. The last movie, for example, was far too short and huge portions of the book were deleted in the rush to cram a 500 page book in under two hours. I though the movie was the worst one of the Potter series.

I think of the Hobbit as more of a kid’s book, and it likely won’t excite the Trilogy’s fans as much. But as the father of two young kids (and still one myself, really) I am really looking forward to the Hobbit. As for two movies, well this does seem strange. I don’t know what to make of that.

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This is mainly an expository blath, with occasional high-level excursions, humorous observations, rants, and musings. The main-line exposition should be accessible to the “Generally Interested Lay Audience”, as long as you trace the links back towards the basics. Check the sidebar for specific topics (under “Categories”).

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